19.09.2011 (21st Shawal 1432)

Al-hamdulillah, we got our first neighbours! Mohammed Hosein und Arifa moved in and have lots of work to do to establish their new home. There are also guests from Russia and England, and slowly community live starts, which makes one aware of the very next project which must be undertaken: building the mosque! Certainly, there cannot be an Islamic village without a mosque! InsyaAllah, Allah will make it easy.

We got the first mail from somebody admitting he is Shia asking if he would be allowed to join! I was afraid that this could result in insulting companions of the Prophet s.a.w. as infidels! But he replied:

As far as the points you've mentioned about insulting companions of The Prophet (P-B-U-H) are concerned, I thought you might be knowing that Imam Khomeini (who is one of the highest ranked Shi'ite religious authority) strongly discourages such acts. A Shi'ite is not supposed to abuse or insult any of the companion of the Prophet. Those Shi'ite who do so aren't following Shiaism. It is a very common misunderstanding even within some Shi'ite. I know there are many misconceptions about Shi'ite among Sunnis, and there are many among Shi'ite about Sunnis, but I prefer not to discuss these misconceptions just for the sake of unity among Muslims.

I had to admit that most of my concepts about Shia are actually from Sunni! And certainly that results in similar misconceptions like Salafis have about Sufis and vice versa! Allah knows best...

Al-hamdulillah, therewith we have support from nearly all the different spectrum of the Muslims, from Sunni to Shia, from Salafi to Sufi and even from Muslims to Non-Muslims! The Prophet s.a.w. said that one gift which was given to him is, that his ummah would not commonly agree to an error! We ardently hope that this indeed is a good sign and that we can make use of the potential the Muslim Village seems to have!

The brother gave us also additional encouragement:

   I went through your website, and found that you were not very optimistic about the success of this project, but you weren't very pessimistic as well. The fact is that if you are not doing this thing as a business, and your sole purpose is to preserve Islam, then you'll have to face a lot of hardships. Following the right path is usually very difficult. You need to be very courageous and determined to keep yourself on the right path. Of course a project, and especially a unique project like this one, won't become successful overnight. You'll have to wait, and remain firm. Keep asking Allah for help, and He might make your way easy. But usually Allah tests his faithful servants with failures and hardships, so don't lose hope if you ever find yourself alone or unsuccessful. 

Our plantations were plundered by monkeys, and hundreds of Manioc trees were plugged out. Mainly responsible is one lonely male monkey, which looks very similar to a small gorilla. We tried the different methods to get rid of him: trying to shoot him with the air rifle; making a scarecrow (is that actually allowed in Islam?); exploding fireworks to scare him off; giving him poisoned banana to eat (quite tasty it seemed); and trying to shoot him with the bow (for which he is too fast and we not good enough yet). One day he was on a coconut palm tree and I already thought I got him! "You must come down", I thought. When he saw me coming with the bow, he jumped on another branch, running on the branch and then jumping at least 15 meters down, crashing into the trees and bushes of the jungle. And I stood there with a stupid face and empty hands! I promised then a reward: 300,000 Rupiahs for catching Jumping Jack dead or alive! Until now, nobody made serious efforts to claim the price!

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